Thoughts and commentary about the janitorial and office cleaning business.

December 2012

12/31/2012

Our Arizona Republic reports the death, over the weekend, in a light plane crash outside San Diego, of Bill Stern and his family. Stern Produce is an Arizona institution, with facilities around the state. From 1984 to 1995, until they closed it down, we cleaned the offices in their old warehousealong Jackson in Phoenix's old produce district in the heart of Phoenix's "Duce".

The produce district, and the Duce as a whole, are now mostly history. The early 1900's vintage warehouses, adjacent to Phoenix's downtown, are now home to trendy art galleries, restaurants and offices. The Duce, in its day, had quite a reputation as our own tenderloin.

12/24/2012

"Christmas in not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us Will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world."

12/23/2012

Caught an article about a Brazilian burger chain called Bob's (not, I gather to be confused with the once iconic Bob's Big Boy) that has introduced an edible wrapper for their hamburgers. I'm not sure if the idea is to limit trash going into the local landfill, or to save the famished customer the couple of seconds necessary to unwrap the burger. If it's the first, EPA and our local environmentalists should be happy; I'm a member of Phoenix's Environmental Quality Commission (fits in with our environmentally preferable cleaning program), and now I've something to bring up at the next meeting. If the latter, an industrial efficiency guru ought be impressed, particularly if the burger is used for the carb fix needed by the local janitorial firm (see my earlier comments on the industry reaction to Hostess' demise).

Not considered, apparently, is the sanitation issue. A reason for the wrapper (besides not getting mustard on the burger joint's table, or on your dashboard) is to keep various pathogens off the food, while its being served or consumed. Makes one want to wash up before dining.

The final development, I gather, will be the edible receipt. More luncheon receipts being consumed means fewer submitted to the Brazilian equivalent of the IRS, and thus fewer business lunch deductions. Could be the EPA and the IRS are in cahoots on this one.

12/22/2012

Just finished an industry accreditation session for a couple of our new folks. We only take on janitorial contractors with a minimum two years background in the industry, as an independent firm, servicing its own accounts; that gives us both current client references we can speak to about competence and reliability, and a pretty good indication that the contractor is used to solving its problems on its own, without the kind of ongoing supervision that hourly employees require.

The cleaning system we're certified in was developed by Greenguard Environmental Institute, originally for cleaning schools, so it's built around a heavy emphasis on indoor air quality and touch-point sanitation; it also emphasises chemical safety and environmental concerns. When the program was introduced, we adopted it immediately; Greenguard's concerns lined up almost exactly with our existing program.

We're doing the accreditation session with a view towards the contractor getting his own certification from Greenguard; it takes a load off us, and better guarantees proper procedures for the client. Therefore we mostly run through Greenguard's system: HEPA filtration, microfiber technology, Greenseal approved chemicals, chemical labeling, and so on. But I also try to work in the reasons behind the Greenguard system (as in why one might want to wear safety glasses when using heavy duty bowl acid, for instance), and a few of the "tricks of the trade" we've picked up over the years (don't set the building keys down on the lobby desk, and then run back out to your van, letting the door lock behind you). Helps to keep their interest up.

I sometimes assume that the reason for periodically putting a cup of water down seldom-used floor drains is obvious; you want to keep the trap under the drain full of water, so the sewer gas does not back up into the facility. One of the folks I just sat down with (years in the industry, learned it under his father, and the sort of "quietly competent" type that I would have guessed does most of his own minor repairs around the house) had never heard of a drain trap. If you don't know why the trap exists, you don't have much reason to remember to fill it.

12/19/2012

Thinking about a kitten or puppy, as a Christmas gift, that will not bring on an allergic reaction in an at-risk child?

Used to be, for lots of money (up to almost $27,000 for a kitten and $17,000 for a puppy), you could buy a pet genetically engineered to mitigate allergic reactions. Unfortunately, according to Genetic Engineering and Biology News, it's all hype.

A case that comes to mind was that of a building manager whose tenant (who treated children with breathing issues) was finding that a number of his patients experienced breathing difficulties specifically when visiting his office. Not a good result for his business. We took air samples, searched for mold, checked lunchroom and restrooms for chemicals, all without results. I did learn, on interviewing the tenant, that he did bring his three dogs to the office with him, several days a week. Go figure.

But I digress. Turns out that hair vs. fur in pets, and specific genetic programming, doesn't accomplish much of anything. Allergic reactions come from shedding skin, and saliva, and another bodily fluid - nothing that one can easily breed out of Rover.

I can't help but think that, given the large number of stray cats and dogs that turn up in my neighborhood (that we work hard to find homes for), I should have gotten into the non-allergic pet movement whilst I could. If a genetically engineered pet is no less an allergy trigger than the garden variety (or the typical stray), I could have turned a buck, and placed our strays, by adjusting our target market.

12/13/2012

A correspondent suggests that we could boost end-of-the-year revenue from our janitorial clients by pushing extra work (refinishing, carpet cleaning) prior to company Christmas parties.

Pretty much a non-starter. In most of our contracts, we include periodic services (burnishing and refinishing, carpets, ceramic and stone floor scrubbing, windows) as part of the ongoing specs and pricing. The customer benefits by a steady monthly price, a facility that looks good ongoing, and avoiding the hassle of keeping track of, and ordering, "tag work". We benefit by spreading the workload over the year, and not having to staff a lot of seasonal, and usually last minute, extra work. A win-win situation.

Correspondent also mentioned emergency clean-up after the Mayan end-of-the-calendar, and of the world. Got me to thinking. Perhaps I could offer, for a moderate fee payable now, a rock-solid guarantee of a full disaster clean-up if, and after, the world ends.

We've offered janitorial services in Phoenix since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our office cleaning program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling. We also furnish Green Seal certified recycled restroom paper products and janitorial supplies.